Reminder: Upgrade to Windows 8 now as pricing goes up come February (tomorrow)

Microsoft announced that along with the launch of Windows 8, the software will be accompanied by a limited time offer for upgrade packages. The company reaffirmed earlier this month that that special pricing would end at some point in the future. This date of closing is soon approaching, so this article is to serve as a reminder to get in quick and snap up some Windows 8 upgrades before the price is raised.

After January 31st, the $40 we've grown accustomed to for Windows 8 will be raised to $120, and $200 for the Pro edition. February onwards will see the new pricing take place for those who are upgrading from previous versions of Windows. If you haven't already checked out the latest version of the desktop operating system from Microsoft, you don't have long left until the cost of doing so will become rather expensive.

If you're interested in upgrading an installation of Windows XP, Visa or 7 to Windows 8, you can take advantage of the $40 limited time offer for the remaining couple of days. Members of public who have been working with Windows 8 preview builds have all expired and those who are still using the software will experience system reboots every hour until an RMT version of Windows is installed.

It's worth noting that Microsoft has been selling upgrades to the latest version of Windows at a discounted price for many months now, providing consumers with ample time to purchase upgrades. Windows 8 offers a new interface and store for users to interact with when browsing for the latest apps and hitting up top games for some light-hearted enjoyment.

What do you make of the latest pricing for Windows 8 upgrades, too much? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Everything went smooth with my installation and I kept my files and settings from Windows 7. One thing I noticed and am baffled by is the previous windows installation files (when doing a disc cleanup-including system files), my previous installation was 70.1GBs!!! I posted this in the forum, got a couple good replies but im wondering, if you have upgraded and kept the files, what is the size of yours? From what ive read and what ive been told - theres a windows.old folder on my c: drive and it contains the files needed if I wanted to roll my system back. Im also wondering if I can pick through this folder and delete some unnessessary files to reduce its size.

Honestly I have absolutely NO intention of upgrading from 7 to 8. For a couple of reasons:
1st - The software only comes in Brazilian Portuguese. I'm just Portuguese, not Brasilian.
2nd - I use a conventional tower computer. My LCD screen doesn't have toutch screen. SO I have absolutely no use for a system of tiles designed for touch screens. I know I can have W8 running on desktop mode...but to having that always running, there's no point in upgrading.
3rd - Why would I pay 50€ for an upgrade when I bought W7 for only a couple euros more along with the PC? (I built the PC btw.)
4th - I only intend to have W8 if I get a Tablet. And that will only happen when Nokia releases a Nokia Tablet. Otherwise I'll go with an Asus one and those also run Android.

A little off topic question but the start screen background in the image above (which looks a little like the WPCentral website background). Is that a custom pattern that Acer has on their systems. I like that one much better than any of the ones that come with Windows 8 direct from Microsoft.

Installed win 8 on a glitchy Dell XPS laptop running Vista. What a difference! I really love this OS and can't understand why people have been so grumpy about it. Really ... Is it that difficult clicking on one icon to get to your old familiar desktop?

Wow, at that price, most people are better off with Windows 7...it's better anyway...

I've tried really hard to like it, about the only thing I found a use for on Windows 8 is the free achievements from the free games in the store, otherwise I would format the partition and put linux on it, and I dont really care for lunix too much...

I bought Windows 8 at launch, but went back to 7 last week. My laptop randomly got stuck in that "automatic repair loop," so I figured it best to wait for a service pack before going back (not a big fan of reinstalling/downloading my stuff all the time.

Are you trying to upgrade a PC with Windows 8 already installed (like a trial)? If you are, run the upgrade assistant in compatibility with Windows 7, and also tick the "Run As Administrator" box. That worked for me. :)

Upgraded from XP :)
Did put the w8 on a disk copy ( cloned with paragon), I'm going to put up dual boot since some of my programs doesn't run on w8.

But all compatible programs, pics, music and files stay untouched after the upgrade :)
But impressed with w8, starts really fast and runs smooth as silk.
Very confusing at first as I'm kinda grown into XP, but starts getting used to it now.
Especially love the way it connects with my beautiful, yellow Lumia 920 :P

I'll just wait until I buy a new a comp or something I work with alot of music software and I'm not sure what's compatible and don't want to find out. Maybe after a few service pack updates I'll see what's up.. I'm fine with 7 for now.

Have the exact same situation. This article helped me decide. http://m.winsupersite.com/windows-8/windows-8-tip-buy-electronic-upgrade... Now I know I can buy it and sit on it. Was going to get 2 but the upgrade helper software says my beloved qosimo g35 will be trouble. Maybe I should buy one, attempt upgrade, if it works then buy another for our newish machine...if it doesn't work then use that upgrade on new laptop only.... and let qosimo fade ungracefully into OS obsolescence...

Comments above said you can upgrade to W8 from XP? This was not an option for W7. Has anyone done this XP to W8 upgrade that could give feedback? I am curious about reinstalling programs and incompatibility issues. Can W8 run any XP software? Also I thought I read there is a "legacy" view for people that may be overwhelmed by the new live tile start screen, is this true? Thanks to anyone that could help with some feedback.

I have done it at work on some older dells. Windows 8 made an almost unusable PC speedy. Great stuff

You will have to reinstall your apps though as the upgrade only keeps your pictures,movies, docs and stuff like that.
I find W8 to have the same if not better than Windows 7 compatibilty. Like i have a c++ app written for Windows 95 that runs perfect on Windows 8. I also have an XP photoapp that doesn't really work on Windows 7 or 8.

Once you wrap your head around the concept that the Start Menu has NOT been taken away. It now just takes the whole screen. That is all. You will be fine, just a much bigger Start Menu with more functionality.

I'm really surprised that between launch and now, Microsoft hasn't come out and announced that the intro pricing was going to remain as the final pricing. OS* upgrades are so much cheaper and for them, it seems to encourage people to always to the latest and greatest rather than people stagnating on XP. Perhaps that's the future with MS's yearly update strategy.

Crushing - you get an option to either do the install/upgrade right at the time that you purchase the upgrade, or you can burn an ISO to a bootable copy of windows 8. I'd buy the upgrade and just keep that ISO somewhere convenient....

The Microsoft installer you download to do the upgrade allows you to redownload it if you lose the .iso. The only catch is I believe the download is tied to your machine. So if the intent is to install it on a different computer, I would buy the disk

I have 2 machines, and bought 2 copies of Win8, but I didn't want to download twice. I created a usb boot with the win8 install on one of my computers, and used it to install on both my machines with the serials that microsoft sent me when I bought. I am pretty sure it is not tied to any computer.

Question - I have a Dell W7 notebook (not ultrabook and would be considered mid-range at best) that works as I want it to and see no reason to upgrade, but, if I do in the future want to upgrade, I would have to pay the full $120-$200. I have never done an OS upgrade before, so I dont know how it works. If I take advantage of this deal, am I able to just store the files on my system until I decide to install it? If so, I think its worth it, otherwise, I think I would be better off just waiting a bit and buying a tablet/ultrabook meant for W8 (I think I would want that ASUS Transformer Book that was just shown off).

I have upgraded two computers already. You can download Windows 8 and install it later. But what I'm unsure if the installer will expire. I would assume not cause you bought the program. MSFT also sends you a receipt so you should be fine.

OK great, I can burn an ISO like ncxcstud said and keep that. I just wanted to be sure that I didnt have to install it right away.
My system is an Inspiron with an i3-380M 2.53GHz dual core and 4GB RAM.
Thanks for your replies - much appreciated.

Upgraded my machine on day 4 (because I was on vacation on day 1) and just upgraded my parents' machine over the weekend. I also told my sister she should jump on it this week since her computer is still running Vista.

The $40 gives you a clean full W8 Pro install as well. It is not an upgrade only. I installed it booting from a USB Flash drive to a formatted hard drive. No need to purchase a DVD. You can burn the download to a DVD after it is copied to a thumb/flash drive.

I even talked to Microsoft about this, I booted from DVD and formatted my hard drive, installed windows 8 pro and couldn't activate with the upgrade key, got an error and they told me to "try" reinstalling windows 7 then installing windows 8 on top of that and activating i tried that on my laptop and i got the same error, so they refunded the 40 for upgrade and gave me a license for the full version after i paid the 69.99 and everything works. Win8prowmc x64

Just plug in a USB stick with Windows 7 on it and when you install Windows 8 and register it, it checks all of your drives for an existing installation of 7. That works every time. I have upgraded 5 PC's this way.

I bought the full version for $15... I went to http://windowsupgradeoffer.com said that I bought my PC in October 2012 (it was actually July 2011) and it sent me a discount code. I ran the analysis tool on my PC and it offered me to a) upgrade b) Make an install on a bootable USB drive or c) Make an install on an ISO. I chose B, and am currently enjoying Windows 8 on a new/clean install